St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-01-22
TRAINING A DOG.


and Praise, shesld Bs BrosgAs Iato Con
stset Play.
There never was boy who owned .
dog who did not cndeavor to teach his
pet some tricks Of one kind or another.
Oftentimes this training goes NO further
than the familiar shake hands," or
'.give me your paw." which is . part
of the education Of every well-bred
canine. Others. however. are more
ambitious. and the dog is made to play
dead. to jump over stick. to fetch and
carry. to hold . piece Of bread on the
end Of its nose, and at signal from its
master to throw the bread into the air
and catch it in its mouth when il falls.
Not many years ago / was deeply
interested in the education of . re-
markably intelligent little skye ter
rier. and while revolving in my
own mind how to make him un-
derstand that when told him to turn
round three times. he was to do it just
three times, and not to 60 twirling
across the floor like . teetotum. /
chanced to meet the proprietor Of .
number of trained dogs which were
performing in town, and in the course
of several conversations had with him
l learned many of what are popularity
called the secrets of training animals.
'.Much depends upon the dog. but
more upon the trainer" he said ''S0mc
dogs are like some people they are 50
stupid that they can be taught nothing.
but these instances are very rare. The
teacher must be patient, firm and good
natured. Never whip . dog unless he
il ugly or obstinate. It il . great deal
more satisfactory to have . dog 90
through his performance cheerfully and
because he really likes it than through
fear of the whip. The easiest exhibition
trick q dog can be taught Is jumping
through . ring. This Is done by coax
ing him to jump through when it is he d
only few inches from the floor. After
he has done this . number of times,
raise the ring q few inches, and 50 on;
but never make the lessons too long. 1t
is better to practice often than to make
the dog repeat trick after it has beer
satisfactorily performed better pet HIM
and make much Of him than 90 on To
something else. A dog which has been
properly treated is very fond of praise,
and understands quickly enough by thu
voice and manner whether he has won
the appreciation of the audience or not.
There is . dog" he added. pointing
to . rather ragged-looking spaniel in
the corner. (which seems to be made
almost crazy by the applause of an
audience. He viii 60 through his part
of the performance a. long as tho audi
ence claps, and when called of the
stage, unless he is secured. he insists
upon going on again. and dances
aroand on his hind-feet in . frenzy Of
excitement. When, on the contrary,
the audience are not sufficiently enthus-
iastic to suit his notions, he limps of
the stage with his ears hanging down
dcjectediy. and absolutely refuses to 60
on again.
MANY Of the tricks which seem 20
wonderful to the audience are tricks of
the performer; for example, I tell one
of my dogs to bow three times; he keeps
one eye On my finger. which is away
from the audience. move my finger,
he bows; he obeys the finger. not the
words. A dog can b taught to lie
down dead, and it 10 Just ~ easy to
teach hin, to drop At the word 'bsngr
as it is to order him in any other way.
It is an amusing addition to this trick
to teach him not to get up until the
trainer calls out 'ratsr and one can use
al sorts of persuasion and ne will not
move.
..Bss Il would b impossible to give
>v~A a 1;eN ~ tho tpi~ka = A<><v ~>n ~
taught. much more 70 attempt to do
scribe them. There il no limit to the
number of things an intelligent dog can
be made to do. All it needs is patience,
perseverance and praise on the part Of
tAe teacher. Always persuade, If pos
sible; never drive when il can be avoid
ed. and you will find that you will have
but little difficulty in teaching oil you
want him to learn." ."-Allaa Fornson,
- Hs,psr's Howng People.